Pops' Stargell Lifts Spirits With Words And His Presence

September 20, 1985|by TED MEIXELL, The Morning Call

Willie Stargell is not a paraplegic. He's doesn't qualify as a handicapped person in any way. Heck, take one look at the massive former Pittsburgh Pirate slugger and current first-base coach and you'd have a hard time believing he was ever sick a day in his life.

But, quite to the contrary, Stargell once did have to overcome a debilitating physical injury. And he has endured intense emotional strain because of a serious illness to his wife, Dolores.

For those and other personal reasons, the amiable man younger Pirates have come to refer to as, "Pops," a man who has for years served as a major spokesman for the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation, was only too happy to take a day off from his coaching duties yesterday and come to Allentown as the featured speaker at the Good Shepherd Home's 77th anniversary celebration.

Sadly, Stargell's name has been in the news recently in conjunction with the ongoing baseball-drugs trial in Pittsburgh. Stargell was implicated last week in testimonyby former teammate Dale Berra. Berra stated that Pirate players had been able to obtain amphetamines, sometimes called, "greenies," from Stargell and veteran Bill Madlock, who was recently traded to Los Angeles. Stargell has vehemently denied Berra's allegations. At a late afternoon press conference, Stargell expressly informed the media that he would make no comments on the drugs issue.

Joining Stargell at the press conference were Dr. Anne Carlsen, administrator emeritus of the Anne Carlsen School for Handicapped Children, who became the 10th recipient of the Good Shepherd Handicapped Hall of Fame award, and three others who were honored as inspirations to handicapped people: Doug Heir, a 25-year old paraplegic who, as a member of the U.S. Olympic Team, wheelchair division, won medals in shotput, javelin, discus and pentathlon events; Mike King, a paraplegic from Cochranville, Chester County, who recently completed a 5,605-mile wheelchair trip across the country and raised $30,000 for rehabilitation centers, and 21-year old Bethlehemite Corrine Rotondo, who overcame her paraplegia to earn a medical transcriptionist diploma from Northampton County Area Community College and secure a full-time job as a receptionist at Mack Trucks.

After listening to the inspirational stories of the four who shared the dais, Stargell, obviously moved, said, "Already I am enlightened; my soul is just filled with joy."

For every handicapped person, there are probably 10 stories of courage and determination. Stargell understands this, perhaps because he has lived through some trying times of his own. For that reason, he has done tireless charitable and community work and always been a willing ambassador for his sport.

"I broke my pelvic bone in college (Santa Rosa Junior College in California)," he said, "and my doctor told me I'd never be able to play competitive sports again. What he didn't know, perhaps, was that I had a passion to play professional baseball. I didn't want an injury, or the opinion of one man, to stop me from realizing my dream.

"Within six months I had shed my crutches, and I was soon able to impress the Pirates enough to sign my first pro contract."

But it wasn't until Stargell was well into his illustrious 20-year career that his inner strength was given its most severe test - and it was then that he first came to appreciate the efforts and dedication of people working in rehabilitation centers such as the Good Shepherd Home.

"In 1976," he related, "my wife had an aneurysm, a stroke and a seizure all at the same time. She was in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Pittsburgh for a long time. While she was there, I was so very impressed with the people working with her: their reaching out, their compassion. I was moved by those people at the hospital who were so willing to give tender loving care to others.

"Because of those experiences, I just want to applaud these facilities."

Conversely, there were a lot of the people at the Good Shepherd Home yesterday whose spirits were lifted, not only by Stargell's mere presence, but by what he had to say.

Not everything you hear about baseball players these days has to be bad.